Von Allmen hands Crans-Montana 2nd Swiss victory in 2 days in last World Cup race before Olympics

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) — World champion Franjo von Allmen dominated the last men’s World Cup downhill before the Olympics on Sunday, giving troubled ski resort Crans-Montana a second Swiss victory of the weekend.

With the Olympic race coming up in six days, von Allmen won his second downhill of the season and fourth overall after beating Italian veteran and Bormio specialist Dominik Paris by 0.65 seconds.

“I really like the slope, it’s really easy to ski but not easy to be fast,” von Allmen said. “It gives a lot of confidence and I’ll try to show also my best skiing in Bormio. This was really important for me and I’m going with a good feeling.”

The Alpine skiing events of the Milan Cortina Games open with the men’s downhill on Saturday on the storied Stelvio course, where the 36-year-old Paris has won a record six downhills between 2012 and 2021.

The Italian was the eighth starter in Sunday's race and saw his lead hold up against several pre-race favorites before von Allmen came down.

“I knew Franjo is hard to beat, he’s really fast on this terrain,” Paris said. “To be on the podium today is a good feeling.”

Racing in perfect sunny conditions under blue skies, Ryan Cochran-Siegle was 0.70 off the lead in third for the American’s second podium of the Olympic season, after finishing runner-up to World Cup leader Marco Odermatt in Beaver Creek, Colorado, in early December.

“I was just more focused on enjoying it. It’s so rare that we get days like this, nice sunshine on a sunny slope with fun terrain,” Cochran-Siegle said.

“My skiing was fluent enough that I was able to keep carrying speed. It’s funny that you get to the bottom and you have no idea how I’m going to do, so always surprised to be in there as a contender.”

Cochran-Siegle was nine-hundredths faster than fourth-placed Odermatt, whose streak of eight downhills in which he finished first or second came to an end.

Cochran-Siegle was the only skier in the top 10 not from Switzerland or Italy, though Giovanni Franzoni was not among them this time.

Enjoying a breakout season with four podiums, including recent wins in the Wengen super-G and Kitzbühel downhill, the Italian struggled on the Piste Nationale and was 1.74 off the pace in 23rd.

Some top contenders from Austria, including 2021 world champion Vincent Kriechmayr, sat out the race to have more time to prepare for the Olympics, where downhill training starts on Wednesday.

The race was interrupted when Chilean racer Henrik von Appen, a late starter with bib 47, crashed and had to be airlifted off the course. There was no immediate update on his condition.

Von Allmen also won last year’s World Cup downhill in Crans-Montana, which hosts the 2027 world championships and where he will be the defending champion.

His victory Sunday came a day after fellow Swiss racer Malorie Blanc won the women’s super-G on an adjacent course in Crans-Montana that uses the same finish area.

The race weekend had a chaotic start Friday, when the women’s downhill was called off amid worsening weather conditions. Three of the first six starters had crashed, including Lindsey Vonn, who hurt her left knee and sat out Saturday’s super-G.

Crans-Montana hosted the events a month after the fatal fire in a bar that killed 40 people and injured 116 on New Year’s Day.

Usual festivities at World Cup venues, like public bib draws and concerts, were canceled and the course was stripped of advertising banners, which in the finish area were replaced by white and black signs of mourning that read “Our thoughts are with you” in multiple languages.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Chile's Henrik von Appen is airlifted after crashing during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Crans Montana, Switzerland, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Switzerland's Marco Odermatt reacts at the finish area of an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Crans Montana, Switzerland, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States' Ryan Cochran Siegle speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Crans Montana, Switzerland, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)

Italy's Dominik Paris celebrates at the finish area of an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Crans Montana, Switzerland, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP)

Switzerland's Franjo von Allmen speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Crans Montana, Switzerland, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)

Switzerland's Franjo von Allmen celebrates at the finish area of an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Crans Montana, Switzerland, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The next round of peace talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations will take place on Wednesday and Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Sunday.

Envoys from Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. had been expected to meet that day in Abu Dhabi, to continue negotiations aimed at ending Moscow’s all-out invasion of its neighbor.

“We have just had a report from our negotiating team. The dates for the next trilateral meetings have been set: Feb. 4 and 5 in Abu Dhabi. Ukraine is ready for substantive talks, and we are interested in an outcome that will bring us closer to a real and dignified end to the war,” Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post.

There was no immediate comment from U.S. or Russian officials.

On Saturday afternoon, top Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev said he had held a “constructive meeting with the U.S. peacemaking delegation” in Florida.

Officials have so far revealed few details of the talks in Abu Dhabi, which are part of a yearlong effort by the Trump administration to steer the sides toward a peace deal and end almost four years of all-out war.

While Ukrainian and Russian officials have agreed in principle with Washington’s calls for a compromise, Moscow and Kyiv differ deeply over what an agreement should look like.

A central issue is whether Russia should keep or withdraw from areas of Ukraine its forces have occupied, especially Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland called the Donbas, and whether it should get land there that it hasn’t yet captured.

Elsewhere, Russian attack drones struck a maternity hospital in southern Ukraine on Sunday morning, the Ukrainian emergency service reported.

In a Telegram post, it said the strike wounded three women in the hospital in the city of Zaporizhzhia, and also sparked a fire in the gynecology reception area that was later extinguished. Regional administration head Ivan Fedorov later said the number of wounded had risen to six.

Days earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump said Putin had agreed to temporarily halt the targeting of the Ukrainian capital and other cities, as the region suffers under freezing temperatures that have brought widespread hardship to Ukrainians.

The Kremlin confirmed Friday it agreed to hold off striking Kyiv until Sunday, but refused to reveal any details, making it difficult for an independent assessment of whether the conciliatory step had indeed taken place.

In the past week, Russia has struck energy assets in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa and in Kharkiv in the northeast. It also hit the Kyiv region on Wednesday, killing two people and injuring four.

Overnight into Sunday, Russia launched 90 attack drones, with 14 striking nine locations, Ukraine’s air force said in a Telegram post. A woman and a man were killed in an overnight drone strike in Dnipro, a city in eastern Ukraine, according to local administration head Oleksandr Hanzha.

Russian shelling also hit central Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine, soon after 7 a.m. local time, seriously wounding a 59-year-old woman, according to a Facebook post by the municipal military administration.

Veterans of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of Ukraine's Armed Forces serve free hot meals in a residential neighborhood for people without power in their homes in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026.(AP Photo/Vladyslav Musiienko)

Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev, left, gestures speaking to U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy Jared Kushner prior to their meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Senate Palace of the Kremlin, in Moscow, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, left, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, second left, Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev, second right, and Trump's envoy Jared Kushner talk to each other prior to their meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Senate Palace of the Kremlin, in Moscow, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a joint press conference with Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda and Polish President Karol Nawrocki, at the Presidential palace in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)